Just a few words about Deep Purple’s Toulouse show last Thursday.

Having been to Nantes in November, I must say this was perhaps a bit weary overall, although quite nice — well, maybe it was the sunday schedule, and a lame audience — I don’t know, but some of the band members (NOT Ian Gillan) seemed a bit uninspired, although the show was professional and enjoyable as always.

In Toulouse, the band were in high spirits, the audience quite hot (about 5000 people, aged 8 — my daughter ! her first concert — to 68).

Ian Gillan (68 — well no, 67 actually) could be my father, but in my opinion, has never been better before: he sounds amazing, especially in the upper middle range. OK, he doesn’t scream around that much any more, but as soon as he started off the scream to Fireball, you could tell that this was gonna be a grand Ian Gillan. And so it was, from Fireball to Black Night.

I love the guy, I love the voice, but I had to say a few 75% positive, 25 % negative things about his voice a few years ago (Toulouse 2009)– earning bitter angry comments from fanatic “praise-the-lord-or-die-by-our-sword, you traitor ” kind of fans. But the fact is, the guy keeps getting better and better (anything to do with lifestyle ? seems obvious). 67 !!!!! Keep on rockin, Ian !

A few highlights, in no particular order:

– The opener, well in fact the openers ! These 5 songs, without any breathing space, really get it on.
– Ian Gillan. Oh — have I said that allready ?
– Steve Morse. Much better than in Nantes, and doing some great interaction with Don. Their playing on Lazy was amazing, as was yhe jam in Hush.
– The Mule: I love that song from the riff to the outro, not forgetting the gorgeous melody line and Paicey’s drum solo.
– Gillan’s singing.
– The total adrenaline rush on Into the Fire and Space Truckin !
– Gillan’s voice.

Setlist as usual (Wasted Sunsets during the Steve-Morse-phase), no Speed King, unfortunately … Well,that was the only thing one could say: the last “greatest hits” part of the show has remained unchanged for years now, except on special occasions. I think this could be rethought, maybe for the 2013 tour, which will figure some more Steve-Morse-era songs (only the 2 instrumentals in Nantes and Toulouse — be proud of your recent history, gentlemen !) And I miss Highway Star a bit … Well, this is just a minor footnote, cause it has to be said once again:

Deep Purple are brilliant !

Deep Purple’s record company Edel/earMUSIC has unveiled release date for the new album — April 26th. A new site and a Facebook page have been launched to promote it.

Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov and Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

Paris 1975 show has been re-released by the old management company Deep Purple (Overseas) as the first part of their Live Series. The tapes have been newly remixed and remastered. Double CD set includes new artwork, a 12 page booklet and a bonus digital download of the Sunbury ’75 Music Festival programme. It is available from their online store. The press blurb also states that “over the next 18 months there will be 10 NEW RELEASES as part of the Deep Purple Overseas Live series”.

Glenn Hughes spoke to the Classic Rock magazine and revealed that it was his Twitter tirade that caused cancellation of Black Country Communion one-off gig in Wolverhampton, originally scheduled for January 5:

I was getting killed by a lot of my friends and fans in the Black Country for the ticket prices. I went on Twitter and said, ‘Don’t shoot me, I’m only the messenger, I don’t set the prices,’ and that was the thing that really started the whole debacle off.

I said the same thing in 2010. I have a lot of fans who complain, ‘We’re from Wolverhampton, we can’t afford these tickets.’ This time it was the red rag to the bull.

Bonamassa’s manager Roy Weisman confirmed he pulled the show as a result of Hughes’ comment:

The tickets might have been more expensive than an average rock band, but they’re not an average rock band. They certainly weren’t as expensive as a superstar band. I decided to price the tickets that way. When Glenn decided he wanted to make a comment, and pointed the finger to me – it was really upsetting to me. I’d had enough of it.

The story appears in the issue 179 of Classic Rock that is currently on sale in the UK.

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info.

Classic Rock magazine has a teaser from Ian Gillan’s interview that will appear in it’s issue due to hit the newsstands on January 3. Speaking exclusively to the magazine, Gillan revealed that the new album will include 13 tracks including Out Of Hand, Hell To Pay, Weirdistan, Uncommon Man and Above And Beyond. The latter song references the late Jon Lord in the lyric: “Souls having touched are forever entwined.”

There’s a big question mark over the [album’s] name at the moment. And possibly an exclamation mark as well. You can read what you like into what I’ve just said. All will become clear – as mud – later on. That’s all I’m allowed to say. The question mark and the exclamation mark might get you intrigued.

According to Classic Rock, album release date is now scheduled for April 2013.

It was the fifth time I saw Deep Purple since 2006. I could compare the quality of the show compared to other concerts and it was excellent!
The most fascinating thing is to see members of the group with a permanent smile, it’s a real pleasure to see.
I was on the front which is not the best place for sound, but the sound was good nonetheless be distinguished perfectly all instruments.
The room was packed and the audience was enthusiastic.
The set list has not changed: intro Fireball, Into the Fire, Hard Lovin’ Man Maybe I’m a Leo Strange Kind and other great classics except Highway Star.
Steve was brilliant as usual, nothing to say, he made a solo ultra melodic but also technical and it was beautiful to ear.
Gillan was in really good form conducting cries without any problem!
I was impressed by Paice’s solo in the Mule, Don was fantastic too and he showed the extent of his talent especially with the improvisation in Hush with Steve.
Roger embodies the rhythm, he rocked the room in the introduction of Black night when he made a solo.
The modesty of these guys is impressive. These are people who have marked the history of music, they invented a style, they made a song
40 years ago still known by everyone today. And yet they constantly play with a smile, they are an example for a lot of musicians today!
This is definitely the best Deep Purple concert I’ve seen in my life.

Valerio Dossini, France

Forest National, Brussels, Belgium

I had the chance to stand near the stage during the gig. Deep Purple gave a great concert last night in Brussels. After a powerful start (Fireball, Into the fire and Hard lovin’man), they gave us a wonderful “strange kind of woman”. All the members were in great shape and Gillan’s voice was great, too. There were also other highlights, such as a wonderful version of “wasted sunsets”. During the solo’s, Don Airey played “ne me quitte pas” from Jacques Brel : brilliant! The good thing is that the band really rocks : hard rock as it was in the beginning. All the setlist was from the 70’s and 80’s. I never heard Steve Morse playing as heavy as he did yesterday. DP were enjoying themselves and the response of the audience (Forest National was full) was enthousiastic. We had a great time, so don’t hestitate, go to see them and enjoy!

Early Whitesnake stalwarts Micky Moody and Neil Murray have teamed up with Chris Ousey (Heartland), Laurie Wisefield (ex Wishbone Ash, Tina Turner), Adam Wakeman (Ozzy Osbourne) and Harry James (Thunder) to form Snakecharmer. They are releasing a self-titled album of original material via Frontier Records, due on January 22nd in North America and January 25th in Europe.

Track list:

1. My Angel
2. Accident Prone
3. To The Rescue
4. Falling Leaves
5. A Little Rock & Roll
6. Turn Of The Screw
7. Smoking Gun
8. Stand Up
9. Guilty As Charged
10. Nothing To Lose
11. Cover Me In You
12. White Boy Blues

Chris Ousey – lead vocals
Micky Moody – guitar, slide guitar, vocals
Laurie Wisefield – guitar, vocals
Adam Wakeman – keyboards, vocals
Neil Murray – bass
Harry James – drums, vocals

Canadian blog Music Legends did a rather lengthy interview with Ian Gillan, which started with a couple (by now) mundane questions about WhoCares but quickly veered pretty far off the beaten track. Big Ian got to talk about things ranging from record remasters, to the state of the music business, to the future of the space age and computers.
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Speed King is back in the live set and by all accounts it’s a scorcher. Filled with improvisations, bits and pieces of classic rock’n’roll and even occasional croonery. The band is firing on all cylinders like a well oiled machine. Check out this one from Hamburg on November 24:
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